Winter ( fa, زمستان) is the title of the most famous poem by Mehdi Akhavan Sales (1928–1990), the contemporary Iranian poet, which was published in 1956. It was composed in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and has been translated into some other languages. The poem has two layers: on the surface, the speaker is describing the chilly season, but more profoundly he is depicting the despair originating from political suppression in Iran; especially after the

1953 Iranian coup d'état The 1953 Iranian coup d'état, known in Iran as the 28 Mordad coup d'état ( fa, کودتای ۲۸ مرداد), was the overthrow of the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in favor of strengthening the monarchical rule of ...

Musical Adaptation

The poem was performed by

Mohammad Reza Shajarian Mohammad-Reza Shajarian ( fa, محمدرضا شجريان; , 23 September 1940 – 8 October 2020) was an Iranian singer and master (''Ostad'') of Persian traditional music. He was also known for his skills in Persian calligraphy and humanitaria ...

in a concert in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

in 2000. The music of the song was composed by

Hossein Alizadeh Hossein Alizadeh ( fa, حسین علیزاده) is an Iranian musician, composer, radif-preserver, researcher, teacher, and tar, shurangiz and setar instrumentalist and improviser. He has performed with such musicians as Shahram Nazeri, Mohammad ...

. The recorded concert was published as an album the following year in Iran. The album was titled ''It's Winter'' echoing the last line of the poem. :fa:زمستان است, Wikipedia's page in Persian on Shajarian's album ''It's Winter''

References

External links

English translation
by

Iraj Bashiri Iraj Bashiri ( fa, ایرج بشیری; born July 31, 1940) is professor of history at the University of Minnesota, United States, and one of the leading scholars in the fields of Central Asian studies and Iranian Studies. Fluent in English, Pers ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winter (Poem) Persian poems 1956 poems Works about seasons